Stat order

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The stat order or stat list refers to a ZZT board's internal array of "active" entities. Stats provide additional state for map elements, and the list serves as a way for the engine to identify which elements require updates on a per-frame basis. Up to 150 stats can exist on a ZZT board, with the player's stat occupying the first index.

The stat order is not exposed to the user in the built-in editor. Nonetheless, the order of stats can affect how quickly entities respond to certain events. Given two objects running at Cycle 1, the object first appearing in the list can send a message to the second object and have the latter react to it on the same frame. On the other hand, if the second object sends a message to the first, it will not react until the following frame.


Top row: objects attempt to step forward, but are blocked by the objects in front of them which appear later in the stat order. Bottom row: all objects move on the same frame.